


Just a Bruise

by taylor_tut



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Hiding Medical Issues, Injury, Injury Recovery, Korrasami is Canon, Major Character Injury, Sickfic, Whump, korra whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 01:17:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14249928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_tut/pseuds/taylor_tut
Summary: A birthday request from my tumblr. Korra gets a few bruised/broken ribs and decides not to tell Asami. Girlfriends always know better.





	Just a Bruise

The battle hadn’t even been long, and, in her defense, she hadn’t known that the injury was that bad. 

That’s what Korra would later tell Asami as she tried to justify this whole mess.

Korra’s whole left side was throbbing, but she didn’t have time to think about that; not until her girlfriend got up.

“Asami,” she called, struggling to get off the ground herself but forcing her body to keep moving until she could take a knee next to her, “are you hurt?”

Asami sat up and shook her head to clear it, disoriented by the fall but unharmed. “I’m fine,” she smiled, “not hurt at all.” Korra sighed in relief and offered her hands to help Asami up, grimacing in pain as the motion tugged at her injured ribs.

“Korra?” Asami asked, but before she could even voice her concerns, Korra was waving her off.

“I’m fine,” she deflected, “just a little bruised.” Asami nodded and would kick herself later for accepting that answer so willingly. 

“We should get back to Tenzin,” Asami said. “He’s waiting on us.” 

\-----------------------------------------------

Korra barely touched dinner, which was highly unusual--borderline foreboding. Her face was pale and coated in a thin sheen of sweat. Asami wanted nothing more than to corner her and ask her what was wrong, but she knew she’d never admit to not feeling her best in front of anyone, especially Tenzin’s kids. 

A shrill cry from the next room startled her out of her thoughts. 

Pema groaned. “Oh, Rohan,” she said exhaustedly, “can’t you  _ please _ just go back to sleep?”

Asami raised an eyebrow at Pema’s uncharacteristic exhaustion. 

“Rohan is reverse-cycling,” Tenzin explained quietly, “so we haven’t been sleeping much, especially super-mom, here.” He leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll go,” he said, earning a grateful smile.

“No, we’ve got him,” Asami interrupted, “right, Korra?” 

Korra sat up a little straighter, wincing almost imperceptibly, then nodded. “Yeah, we can take care of him for a bit. Go get some rest.” 

Tenzin led his wife to the bedroom for a much-needed nap while Korra sluggishly followed Asami to the baby’s cradle. 

“Oh, come here, mister,” she cooed, picking him up in her arms and rocking him gently. He continued to cry, clearly not satisfied with just Asami’s presence, so she turned him toward Korra. “Can you take him? He loves you,” she said, already in the process of handing him over. 

Korra hesitated. “Uh, yeah, just--let me sit first,” she said. 

Asami frowned. “Sure,” she agreed, watching suspiciously as Korra sat on the ground and arranged a few pillows on her lap. “Are you sure you’ve got him?” she asked. Korra nodded, but as soon as Rohan was in her outstretched arms, she cried out in pain and reflexively curled inward. Had she been standing, she would have dropped the baby.

“Korra?” Asami fretted, “hey, what’s wrong?” Rohan had began crying again, loudly enough that the other kids came to investigate. 

“Is Korra okay?” Jinora asked, taking her baby brother from Asami’s hands so that she could drop down beside Korra. 

“I’m fine,” she reassured weakly, looking anything but. “Just a pulled muscle.” 

“Maybe you should have Katara look you over,” Asami said. “Ikki, do you know where she is?” 

Ikki nodded furiously and grabbed Korra by the hands to pull her up, which only resulted in a pained yelp and Korra falling forward into Asami’s arms. She lowered her back down to the ground. 

“Can you go get Katara and bring her here?” she asked, “I don’t think Korra should be walking around.” Ikki and Meelo took off running. Asami turned a stern gaze to her girlfriend. “Show me what you did,” she demanded. 

Reluctantly, Korra lifted up her shirt to reveal a mess of blue and purple on the left side of her torso, promising a myriad of bruised and broken ribs.

“Korra!” she gasped, “this is--this looks horrible!” 

Korra grimaced, avoiding looking down for that very reason. “I was hoping it felt worse than it was,” she admitted.

Asami shook her head. “Well, it’s pretty bad, and I’m guessing it  _ does _ feel worse than it looks, which begs the question: why didn’t you  _ tell me _ ?”

Korra averted her eyes. “I--I’m sorry,” she stammered. 

“God, you were asking me if I was alright, so I just assumed you were fine,” Asami lamented, “I should have noticed sooner. You’ve been walking around in pain all day... “

Korra reached out and took Asami’s hand. “Hey, no,” she argued, “I should have said something. This is on me.” 

“But you  _ always _ do this,” she fought, “and I should know that by now.” 

“And I should know better than to not tell you when something hurts,” Korra reasoned.

“Yes,” Asami agreed, “you should.” She stared at the ground for a few moments. “Do you feel like you can’t talk to me or something?”

Korra’s jaw dropped and she gaped for a moment like a fish with no water. “What--no! That’s crazy,” she said. “Of course I know I can tell you anything.”

“Then why do you hide things like this?” 

Asami always had a way of cutting straight through Korra’s bullshit and getting the answers she wanted no matter how much Korra tried to deflect.

She sighed. “I’m just… not good at…” 

“Emotional intimacy? Admitting you’re human?” Asami offered. Korra laughed. 

“Yes and yes,” she smiled. “But really, I’m fine. It’s just some bruising.”

Asami rolled her eyes. “That’s  _ not _ fine,” she disagreed, “but we can talk about that later. For now, we should get you lying down in bed. Katara doesn’t like to bend down to heal if she doesn’t have to.” 

Korra let herself lean on Asami, who supported her right side, to take some of the pressure off her ribcage. “Thank you, Asami,” she said sincerely as Asami lowered her into the bed. “Really. You’re the best.”

Asami leaned down and placed a whisper-light kiss on her nose. “I know,” she smiled. 


End file.
